Scales or feathers? It all comes down to a few genes

Scales, spines, feathers and hair are examples of vertebrate skin appendages, which constitute a remarkably diverse group of micro-organs. Despite their natural multitude of forms, these appendages share early developmental ...

New quantum criticality discovered in superconductivity

Using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) techniques, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory discovered a new quantum criticality in a superconducting material, leading to a greater understanding ...

Fossils of tiny, unknown hedgehog identified

Meet perhaps the tiniest hedgehog species ever: Silvacola acares. Its roughly 52-million-year-old fossil remains were recently identified by a University of Colorado Boulder-led team working in British Columbia.

Human ES cells progress slowly in myelin's direction

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, USA, report in the journal Development the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities ...

Researchers develop hedgehog safety test for robotic lawnmowers

Researchers led by the University of Oxford have developed a new test to assess how dangerous robotic lawnmowers are to hedgehogs. They hope this will lead to a certification scheme that will allow consumers to choose 'hedgehog-friendly' ...

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Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand (by introduction). There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (order Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals they have adapted to a nocturnal, insectivorous way of life.

The name 'hedgehog' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English 'heyghoge', from 'heyg', 'hegge' = hedge, because it frequents hedgerows, and 'hoge', 'hogge' = hog, from its piglike snout. Other names include 'urchin', 'hedgepig' and 'furze-pig' .

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